The Girl on the Clocktower
by Daughter-of-Light13
Summary: It's been a long time, since I've lived in that world. But I want to remember. I want to remember their kindness, their heartbreak. I hope I remember them well.  Yes, I know 358/2D is already out, but I like my ideas better. OC NOT Xion! T for safety.
1. Broken

The first thing I really remember, not just as a fact but as a blow-by-blow event, is the day Axel saved my life. It's a weird starting point, since it should, chronologically, be one of my last memories of that place. But, it's one of the few memories I have, now.

I would have been somewhere between twelve and fourteen. I'm not sure, really, how old I was at that time, just that Organization would have had about ten members by then. They were still trying to train me in the art of battle, but they didn't worry too much about my intellectual development anymore. The Order had been a group of scientists; the Organization was one of warriors. One member had the undesirable job of training me each and every day. They tended to trade off on who taught me, but Saix made the final decision, as he did with almost everything any more. That day it was Xigbar's turn.

Being one of the original group, he'd been forced to teach me since I was very small. Impatient, his hatred of me was strong, born of a long period of repression. He had written me off as a lost cause long ago, and didn't teach me so much as vent his frustration at me during these sessions. I hated training days with Xigbar as much as he did.

I don't remember the actual session. Probably, my subconscious has repressed the memory, since I'm sure it's an awful one. My actual memory starts with me limping back to my room afterwards. I'm not a Nobody. I can't create portals or teleport. I was usually the only one in any given hallway, if only because I was the only one that had to walk. I usually was careful to listen for that subtle wooshing sound an opening portal makes. I say usually, because I have no memory of hearing that sound. All I know is that one moment I was walking in an empty hallway, and the next Xigbar had pinned me against a wall with one of his gun weapons pressed against my forehead.

"What a waste," he spat.

"He'll eliminate you if you hurt me," I said, voice shaking. I wasn't sure how true that was, but it was the only defense I had. I didn't have a weapon of my own at the time.

"As if," Xigbar shot back. "The Superior shouldn't be bothered with caring for brats like you."

"You can't scare me, Xigbar."

"Oh really?" He drove the projectile in deeper, breaking the skin.

"Please, don't hurt me," I begged.

"Give me one good reason why I should let you go!" he bellowed, pulling back for dramatic effect before he shot me. Except, he didn't shoot me.

"XIGBAR!" someone yelled. I had closed my eyes, wincing, before the death blow, so I didn't see who it was until I opened them.

"Axel!" I yelped. He had Xigbar pinned to the other wall, the pointed blade of a chakram pressed against the slimy old man's throat.

"Do you want to be eliminated?" Axel hissed, ignoring my outburst.

"As if," Xigbar remarked, looking completely relaxed.

"Then don't be stupid," Axel said, dropping the chakram and pulling the other one out of the wall and Xigbar's sleeve. Xigbar teleported out of there, a sour look on his face. Axel turned to me, a weird look on his face.

"You ok, kid?" he asked. I nodded once.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine. Thanks, Axel."

He bent down and wiped the trickle of blood off my forehead. "Take care of yourself, ok?" I nodded again, and then went to my room. I felt his eyes on my back until I turned at the end of the hallway.

That's where the memory ends. I still don't know how Axel ended up there, or why he saved me. I don't remember us being good friends until Roxas arrived, which would have been awhile after this happened. I do remember that he was there every time Xigbar trained me after that. One way or another, he must have felt he had a vested interest in keeping me alive. Or maybe he just wasn't as broken as the rest of them.


	2. Arrival

Things were different, when Roxas came. There was this sense, this feeling of anticipation in the air. Like wolves stalking their prey, the Organization members seemed to sense that they were getting close to their goals. It was, I guess, happy for them. But to me it felt like a storm was about to break.

Xemnas may have found Roxas, (it was generally agreed that he named him) but Axel presented Roxas to the other members. Their gathering place is one of the few rooms that have no door. You have to enter and exit by portal. I knew we were getting a new member, and I knew there was something important about this new person, but I didn't know what. I wasn't enthused, honestly. Axel aside, a new member was a new tormenter, and even Axel wasn't overly friendly. That day was one of the few days he actually talked to me.

"Kid, come with me," he said, out of the blue, that day. He waved me over to the couch he was sprawled out on. I had to come to the sitting room like area where they received their mission orders to get my training assignments for the day. A lot of the members would hang out there while waiting for their assignments to be finalized, but there was no one else in the room at that moment, not even Saix. I walked over as he stood up and created a portal. "You heard about the newbie?" he asked, eyes alight with anticipation. Fire isn't just Axel's element, it's his whole personality.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just come on!" he was impatient, and he gestured animatedly for me to get my butt through the portal already. I had no clue what was going on, I just walked through. Axel followed, causing the portal to close behind him.

He'd taken me to their meeting room. We were behind a huge column that was actually a chair. There were thirteen chairs, though we only had twelve members at that time. Peering around the column/chair, I saw a raised dais, just short enough to step up on. All of the other chairs were full, except for one I could see, and Axel's, which I was behind. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I whirled around.

"Pay attention and keep your head down, got it memorized?" Axel whispered at me, bending over to meet me eye to eye. He was ridiculously tall compared to me. I nodded once, and he winked at me and disappeared. I poked my head around the column/chair again, and watched the action unfold.

"Good tidings, friends. Today is a momentous day. I am pleased to announce that a new comrade has been chosen to wear the coat. Let us all welcome one of the Keyblade's chosen, number XIII," Xemnas blathered theatrically as Axel half shoved, half led a kid around my age up to the center of the dais. The kid was Roxas, but I didn't know that then. I remember being almost more surprised by the blank look on his face and the blank twilight of his mind then by that he was a Keyblade wielder. I knew now why the Organization wanted him, but I didn't, honestly, think that he would be up to it. He'd be the first Nobody in the Organization to be eliminated, I couldn't help thinking. He looked so small and fragile up there, even though his arms and torso where technically beefier than Axel's twig limbs. He said nothing, did nothing, saw nothing, the entire ceremony. All the same, he was made the thirteenth member of Organization XIII. All our fates were sealed that day.

After the show, when everyone else had left, Axel brought Roxas to meet me, since I was still hiding behind Axel's chair.

"And this is Aurora," Axel said to Roxas as the two of them faced me. Roxas didn't say anything, just looked at me blankly. I could tell he just barely comprehended what was going on. "She's the boss's project." Axel continued, probably guessing this was going up and over Roxas's head.

"Project?" Roxas and I asked almost simultaneously, though in very different tones. Axel shrugged at me, and then turned to Roxas.

"She's being taught everything the Organization knows so that she can take it to other worlds, got it memorized?" Roxas didn't answer, just stared at me, barely blinking. I didn't have much to say either, and I was still miffed about being labeled a "project". A few years ago I'd been known as the Superior's daughter.

Shrugging at the two of us, Axel made a portal. "C'mon. We've got a mission," he said, though I'm not sure exactly who he was talking to. I walked through the portal, followed by Roxas.

"This is my room," I said. Roxas nodded once, looking around a little. Axel came through, made another portal, and ushered Roxas through it. But he didn't follow.

"So?" he asked me, sounding awkward. I rolled my eyes.

"He's empty, emptier than most. I understand we've been looking for a Keyblade wielder for awhile, but he's just a kid, zombie kid at that. They'll wear him out until he dies."

"He _is_ a bit of a zombie, but Xemnas has big plans for him. If the Keyblade chose him, he's gotta be stronger than he looks, got it memorized?"

"The Keyblade doesn't chose Nobodies, it chooses their originals," I stated more sharply than I had intentioned.

"Then you know who he is, don't you?" Axel fired back at me. "Keep it quiet," he added as he stepped through the portal. I shook my head at the space where he'd been. I didn't have any clue who Roxas was, then.

"Aurora! What are you doing lazing around here, worthless girl? You've still got training today!" Vexen barked at me, showing up suddenly. I jumped, spinning around, and then nodded.

"Yes, sir."

The following days I didn't see Roxas or Axel much, but I heard that Roxas was progressing well, and would soon be ready for actual missions. I dug around, but couldn't find out anything about who Roxas had been before. All the information surrounding the Keyblade was suddenly off limits to me, though I had studied it before. Axel was as enigmatic as ever, paying no more attention to me than he had before, even when he caught me giving him a questioning look. I didn't understand his interest in the new kid, or what I was supposed to keep quiet about and why I was supposed to keep quiet about it.

Roxas had been in the Organization about a week when he surprised Axel and me both. After the usual mission, Axel had been compelled to take Roxas to the training dome, where my battle training and any other practice battles took place. Though it was unlikely Roxas would ever be a part of my training, as his skills were too necessary in the field, things had to look equal to keep the other members happy. So Axel brought him down towards the end of a particularly nasty bout with Saix.

Saix, being second in command, avoided training with me as much as he could. Again, though, the need to keep everyone satisfied to prevent revolt made it impossible for him not to teach me altogether. He hated me almost as much as Xigbar, and considered me as a whole a complete waste. He was smacking me across the room with his giant claymore when Roxas and Axel wandered into the room. Axel had monitored my training with Xigbar for over a year now, so he was prepared for what he saw, but Roxas was shocked.

Nobodies, in general, can't feel anything. They tend, however, to look like this is not the case. Part of it is unconscious; they remember feelings so well that they mimic them without trying. For the most part, though, this play-acting is entirely on purpose and is used to manipulate others around them. So, when real shock, disgust, and anger ripped through Roxas, it knocked me off guard. Off guard enough for Saix to send me flying across the room and smashing into the wall.

"Pitiful," Saix remarked, leaving the arena.

"What's his problem?" I heard Roxas ask angrily while I sat up and drained a mega-potion, eyes squinched shut against the pain.

"You ok, kid?" I heard the sound coming slightly above my head.

"I've been better," I remarked as the mega-potion started to take effect. I opened my eyes, and their blurry faces hovering over me began to snap into focus. Axel pulled me to my feet while Roxas turned and said,

"We should take her to the clock tower with us."

Axel and I both blinked at him in surprise. I later learned that that was their spot, but then I had no clue what it was Roxas was talking about.

"C'mon, Axel, she needs it," he wheedled, gesturing to me. Axel looked me up and down.

"Alright, alright, she can come," he agreed, opening a portal. I felt a weird rush in my heart, and I dashed through the portal, knowing they'd follow.

Colors, light, noise all hit me at once. It had been five years since I'd seen anything other than the dark, grey night of the World That Never Was. Twilight Town, in all its small town dusky sameness, was heaven, a paradise of color and sound. I gasped aloud, turning in a slow circle to take everything in. The sunset dazzled my eyes with its colors. It belonged in a painting, it was so beautiful. Axel laughed behind me.

"You don't get out much, huh kid?" He asked, smiling. I shook my head.

"I haven't left the World That Never Was for five years," I informed him, still taking in the sky. Roxas walked up, holding three popsicles the color of pale turquoise stones and ocean waves. He passed one to Axel, then one to me.

"It's Sea Salt Ice Cream," he told me, biting his own treat.

"Thanks," I said, and then licked mine experimentally. It tasted wonderful, the perfect combination of salty and sweet. I hummed in the back of my throat with the simple pleasure of it. The setting sun warmed my skin and I closed my eyes, so happy I could nearly cry.

"Are you coming or what?" Axel asked, breaking my reverie. My eyes shot open, and I ran to catch up to him and Roxas as they wandered from the shopping center up an inclined path. We made our way up there towards the train station with its massive clock tower. We climbed to a ledge above the clock face using a complicated system of ladders and back doors. Roxas and Axel settled on the edge like they were invincible, but I had serious vertigo problems. It was HIGH. I could see the entire town from here. I pressed my back against the tower, which towered high above us, even though we were two thirds of the way up it by now.

"It's ok, you won't fall off," Roxas said with a mouth full of ice cream, looking back at me.

"I-I'm fine right here, thanks," I stammered, shaking my head back and forth with fear. Roxas shook his head at me and got up.

"You're never gonna be able to enjoy it if you're so scared," he said, taking me by the arm and leading me to the edge ever so slowly.

"C'mon, kid, you really think we'd let you fall?" Axel asked, smiling at my stupid fear. Roxas sat me down in between the two of them, and then settled next to me.

"Don't look down, look out," Axel advised, gesturing to the skyline and the perfect view of the sunset we had up here. I took his advice and soon forgot my fears. The breeze felt good, and the view was absolutely amazing. The sky was alight with pastel hues, reds and oranges and yellows and purples. I munched on my ice cream slowly, savoring everything. Time seemed to fade away and disappear. No one talked, but that was ok. Silence is always laden with something, and this was laden with a comfortableness I didn't have a name for at the time. I never wanted to leave.

"Well, time to head home," Axel said, standing up and startling me. He made a portal as Roxas stood up.

"Already?" I asked, heart sinking to my shoes. They looked at me like I was crazy. They didn't understand.

"You know you can come back with us anytime you want, right?" Roxas asked me, pausing at the portal's threshold as I slowly got up and headed over.

"I can, really?" I asked. Both boys nodded.

"Of course, kid," Axel remarked.

"Thank you!" I said, bouncing up and down. That got a smile from Axel and a bemused look from Roxas. We headed back to that miserable world of darkness, but things were different.

There was a little spark of light in our lives now.


	3. Confidence

**A/N: Sorry for those of you who thought this was about Xion. I found 358/2 Days really dissatisfying, and felt that her character was really just a cop-out. I've had my own version of what happened for a really long time, and have various fan-fics of it, but they're all really old and awful so I thought I'd try this. Sorry if I don't update often. Life is crazy. Thanks for sticking with me! ^_^ This is my first story for , so lots of reviews would be very helpful! Thanks and enjoy!**

**Chapter 3: Confidence**

"You haven't told anyone, have you?" Axel asked me, eyes ablaze. He'd pulled me aside in Twilight Town after dropping a huge bomb on us: He had a big mission and would be gone for a while.

"Told anyone what?" I snapped back, folding my arms across my chest.

He sighed and shook his head at me. "C'mon, I know you're smarter than that."

"They blocked me from all their Keyblade research."

"Oh did they now?" he mused, looking away at nothing. "Well, let me give you the short version. There's only one Keyblade wielder in the worlds today; a kid by the name of Sora."

"Sora?" I repeated, startled.

"Yeah, commit it to memory." He waved dismissively.

"That's why he seemed so familiar! But that means- Wait, you used present tense. But Sora can't still be alive, not with Roxas around."

"Normally, you'd be right, but Roxas isn't your typical Nobody. His other side is still running around the worlds. Sora's the reason they're shipping us off to Castle Oblivion." Now he was the one with his arms crossed, frowning.

"What are they planning to do with him?" I asked, staring him down. He shrugged at me, but his eyes had hardened.

"Heck if I know, but I doubt it's anything the kid'll enjoy."

"Oh," I grimaced. That caused him to raise an eyebrow.

"You're worried about him? You've never met him."

"Yes, I have. Sora's my brother." His eyebrow arced up a few more notches. He was staring at me now, digesting this new information. "I haven't seen him since we were little. Our parents gave me to Xemnas."

"Orders are orders," Axel finally said, not looking at me as he said it. "But if Roxas is anything to go by, they're underestimating him. I'll keep an eye out for you, alright?"

"Thanks, Axel," I mumbled, not satisfied.

"In exchange," he continued, "You've gotta watch Roxas. Not a word to him about his past, got it memorized? If he finds anything out he'll – well - it won't end well." He stared into space, teal eyes narrowed, eyebrows all scrunched up, arms still folded against his chest. Whatever fate he was picturing, it wasn't good. I knew that look and tone by now. Axel was deadly serious. I didn't need to read his anxiety to know that.

"It's a deal. I'll keep my mouth shut and my eyes open, I promise." Whatever expression my face was making, it was the right one. Axel looked up and nodded, facial muscles relaxing with relief. "But Sora had better make it out of there alive," I added forcefully, glaring now. He laughed hollowly at me, his smile not reaching his eyes.

"Don't worry about that, Aurora. Don't worry about that." Still chuckling, he disappeared into a portal.

Clock tower visits got awkward after that. Neither Roxas nor I were much for conversation, and we danced around what we really wanted to talk about: what was going on with Axel. Things changed fast, though.

I was going over my copied lessons for the day when I felt this sharp jab of pain in the back right side of my head and in my right wrist.

"Roxas," I yelped, knowing instinctively that it was his pain and not mine. Getting up, I heard a portal open behind me.

"What happened?" I asked as Roxas stepped into the room. He was cradling his right arm against his chest. I couldn't see any blood, but he was drenched in sweat, with one eye pinched closed. His face was screwed up with pain.

"I had training… with Luxord… He broke my wrist," he panted, wincing even more and trying to hold out his wrist to show me.

I darted over, pushing him into a sitting position on my bed. "Don't move it! Sit down and I'll be right back." I thumped down the spiral staircase in the middle of my bedroom floor and whooshed into my huge walk-in closet, grabbing materials off the long shelves along three sides. I needed to splint his arm before giving him any potions or elixirs. Cure spells can't heal things wrong, but liquids aren't nearly as sophisticated.

Hustling back upstairs, I struggled not to drop the seemingly random assortment of healing supplies. When I got upstairs I spread it all out on my bed, snatched the empty basin next to my window, and got to work.

"Let me see your arm," I said, trying to sound soothing. With help, Roxas rolled up the billowing black sleeve of his cloak up and pulled off his black glove. I tried to be as gentle as I could as I applied the splint, hoping nothing was twisted inside already. To Roxas's credit, he did nothing more than wince the whole time. I splinted his wrist with rulers and scarves, but did not wrap all the way to his hand just yet. I had him balance his wrist over the glass basin, which got me a questioning look. I didn't explain, just ripped open a green foil flask and started pouring the contents over his wrist. There was a hissing sound, and the glowing green potion let off a pale green steam as it hit his wrist. A weird chemical smell filled the air. Roxas's expression bounced back and forth from relaxed to pained, though he clenched his teeth the whole time. As soon as the first one was through, leaving a decidedly less glowy puddle in the basin, I pulled out a second pouch and dumped that over his arm too.

"Is that any better?" I asked.

"A little," he conceded as I dried off his wrist and finished wrapping it. I ripped open a blue foil package that was slightly smaller than the potions had been.

"Drink this and your wrist should be fine," I instructed. Obedient as always, Roxas did as I asked. The mega-elixir made him glow blue as he drank it. He smiled when he was finished and then started trying to unwrap his arm, but he couldn't untie the knot with only one hand. I laughed and did it for him, letting him unwrap the rest.

"Thanks, Aurora," he beamed at me, flexing his now healed wrist. Everything seemed to be in order. "I was really worried I'd be out for awhile."

"Saix or someone would have healed you before they let that happen. You're too important."

"Me? Important? Why?" He asked, stopping his testing of his arm to look at me.

"Because you wield the Keyblade. It's the only way they can get hearts for Kingdom Hearts," I explained, hoping that was all he would want to know. I have no clue what my face looked like. He nodded once at me.

"I guess that makes sense. Hey, let's go to the clock tower today! Sea Salt ice creams on me." He bounced up, taking the basin full of used up potion with him. I shook my head, chuckling and took that from him.

"First help me clean up this mess, then we can go," I said, already clunking down my metal stairs to my bathroom. We got it done in record time, and then raced to the clock tower.

"You think Axel's ok?" Roxas asked me once we were settled. I nibbled on my ice cream, loving the perfect balance of salty and sweet.

"Of course he is. After all, he's Axel," I said, trying to sound confident. "Eat your ice cream before it melts," I said, elbowing him lightly in the arm. He jumped; looking at his popsicle like it had sprouted fur, and then licked it hastily.

"Still… it feels weird without him here," he said a little later, neglecting his ice cream again. I nodded as a playful gust of wind whirled around us, tousling our hair.

"Yeah, it does. What do you think he's doing there, anyway?"

"I don't know. Marluxia, Larxene, Vexen, Zexion, and Lexeaus are with him. That can't be good, can it?" He looked up at me, blue eyes very much like a sad puppy's. I sucked on the top of my ice cream, pondering.

"They won't hurt him," I said slowly.

"How do you know?" He shot back at me, waving his arms.

"Because Order members don't attack other Order members," I replied, using the Organization's old name out of habit.

"So? Luxord broke my wrist today," he pointed out.

"That was battle practice. That doesn't count." I waved his concern away.

"He still did it."

"He shouldn't have. Look, I'm worried too, but Axel can take care of himself. He'd be mad at us for worrying."

"No he wouldn't. Nobodies can't be mad," Roxas said, looking down, his words obviously an idea from someone else.

"Well, he wouldn't want us to worry, ok?" I tried to catch his eye, to cheer him up. I never did believe that Axel and Roxas didn't have real emotions.

"It's hard." He said, finally looking at me.

"Eat your ice cream and think about good things. Axel'll be back soon with all kinds of funny stories for us, we need some for him." That did it, sort of. Roxas took a bite of his ice cream.

"We could always tell him about the time I pushed you off the clock tower…" he said slowly, trying and failing to hide his smirk. I jumped up, backing away from the edge.

"No way! Don't you dare try it, Roxas!" I said, throwing my popsicle stick at him. He laughed, and shoved the last huge clump of ice cream in his mouth. He squinted and grimaced as the cold hit him.

"MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm! MMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm!" he mumbled, mouth too full to open to talk. I bent over double, laughing so loudly it echoed off the tower. He glared at me, shaking his fist and throwing my stick back at me. It hit me on the head, but I barely noticed. He was making a great face, with his popsicle stick hanging out of his mouth and his eyes nearly crossed with cold. I straightened up, still chuckling, as he finally got the final chunk of ice cream to melt. He jumped up, dashing over to me.

"You're gonna get it, Aurora!" he joked, glaring and chasing me.

"Not up this high!" I yelped, pinned against the clock tower wall by my own fear.

"You jerk! No fair playing the fear of heights card," he laughed, acting upset.

"Just get me down from here!" Laughing, we headed home.

**Review reply time! ^_^**

**Caitlinkeitorin: **Thanks for reading, and for being my first reviewer EVER. ^_^ I really appreciate it. Sorry this isn't about Xion. I changed the description to try to make that clearer. I hope you keep reading anyway! I'll post as often as I can.  
Yeah… I have a problem with over-catchphrasing and such. I thought about that after I wrote first two chapters. I worked on trying to tone that down in this one. I hope it worked!


	4. Nightmare

**A/N: YAY! Another chapter! I'm going to write these as they come to me, so updates are going to be super irregular. To all who have reviewed, favorite, and put this story on your alert list I thank you! That kind of encouragement is my lifeblood!**

**A little note on the plot line: Aurora is a character I made up before KHII was even released, but I didn't give her a history until about a month or so after KHII came out. I have a bunch of really old crappy fanfics based around her story. She's always been a sort of pet charrie of mine, so I decided to re-write those old crappy fanfics. I want to try to keep this as true to the original plot-line I had as possible, while making it bearable to read. So bear with me if I commit ancient fanfiction sins. **

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter 4: Nightmare

"Aurora… Aurora, wake up," I heard a fuzzy whisper above my head as I slowly emerged from sleep. I blinked my eyes, trying to see in the murky darkness of my room. A faint light shone through my window, but Kingdom Hearts was on the other side of the sky at this time of night, to allow us to sleep. I managed to make out a pair of eyes, blue chips in the darkness, and a faint outline of spiked hair. Still wrapped in the hazy cobwebs of my dream, I had a very bizarre idea of who it was.

"Sora?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing one eye with my fist. The figure stood back.

"No, it's me, Roxas," he said quietly, sounding very troubled. "Who's Sora?"

The way he asked that question made me feel like I'd been slapped.

"Sorry, Roxas. I was having a crazy dream. Sora must be some kid that my subconscious made up," I covered quickly. "What's wrong?" I patted a spot on the bed next to me, since it was the only real place to sit in the room.

Roxas shrugged (which I could finally see in the darkness) and padded slowly over. He sat down with a sigh, resting his chin in his fists and his elbows on his knees. "I had a… a nightmare," he said after a moment.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"You'll think it's stupid," he said quickly.

"Roxas, just tell me. You already woke me up." I was trying not to be impatient, but it wasn't exactly working. I'm not my best right after I wake up.

"It… I was... I wasn't me." Every word was a struggle.

"What do you mean?"

"I… I've had these weird dreams for awhile now, even on missions, when I'm awake… I'm some other person, a boy my age. I'm always him… never me. It's like… like I'm trapped inside him… or something. I don't know. I can't talk or move; he talks and moves for me. It's so weird…" His voice trailed off into the darkness. He had moved so that his knees were curled up against his chest, his feet perched on the edge of my circular bed with his arms wrapped around his legs. He looked so small, curled up like that in his pajamas instead of the thick Organization cloak. I didn't know what to tell him, so I let the silence hang there. Finally, he turned his head towards me. "What's wrong with me?"

I looked away. I couldn't answer him.

"Aurora, what's wrong with me?" he repeated, more urgently. He knew I knew something I wasn't saying.

"I'm not sure," I finally said. "I need to think about it, do some research." I paused, trying to formulate what I was going to say next. "Try not to let these dreams worry you too much, ok? You're still you. You'll always be you."

"But who am I? I don't remember my past. I barely remember my time in the Organization. What makes me me? What makes me Roxas?"

"Well, that's easy," I said, feigning brightness. "The way you smile and laugh, and that Sea Salt Ice Cream is your favorite food and that Axel and I are your best friends. That you're so good at fighting and how you ask weird questions like that and how you think and feel make you you. Your personality," I added.

"But Nobodies can't feel."

"So? You're different. That's a good thing."

"Is it?" He asked morosely. I sighed.

"It may not seem like it, but it is. Trust me." I put a hand on his shoulder as I said it. "Will you be able to go back to sleep?"

"I think so." He stood up, slowly unfolding his legs to reach the floor. He walked towards the staircase in the center and rested his hand on the top of the handrail. Looking over his shoulder at me he slowly said, "Thanks, Aurora."

I nodded. "Anytime you need to talk, come find me. Good night, Roxas."

"Night," he said, disappearing down the staircase.

I sighed, flopping back down on my bed. "That was way too close," I mumbled to my ceiling.

I must have eventually fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, my alarm clock was blaring at me. Groaning, I looked at the time. I definitely did not have five more minutes to sleep in. With a stretch, I got out of bed and soon found myself in the Grey Area, as the lounge is melodramatically called. I still vividly remember the horrified look on Roxas's face as he turned from Saix to me.

"The C.O. team's gone," he said, looking like he was about to either punch something or cry.

"What?" I yelped, turning to Saix.

"All members assigned to Castle Oblivion have met their fate. It is troubling, but we must carry on as usual. Aurora, today you will be-"

"How can you say that?" Roxas cut in, furious. "You can't just write them off like that!"

"What do you suggest we do? Lazing around won't bring them back. Our research must continue. Now, Aurora, you will be training with Xigbar today. Roxas, your mission is heart collection in Wonderland. Off with you." Saix said dismissively. Roxas teleported to his mission with a vicious glare.

"You had better not be putting ideas into that Nobody's head, Aurora," Saix hissed at me over his shoulder, not even bothering to look at me as he spoke. "He has no heart, just like the rest of us."

"You think I'm not aware of that?" I hissed. He didn't deign to respond to me. Xigbar came over at that moment.

"Hurry up," he said shortly. I gulped, suddenly terrified. Would he kill me, now that Axel was gone? I didn't have any choice but to walk through the portal to my potential doom.

Xigbar didn't kill me that training session, but he didn't take it easy on me, either. Pinned to a wall by his darts and my own clothes, I glared at his smug face, upside down, of course. "Why don't you just finish me now? There's no one to stop you." I spat, tired and angry and, though I wouldn't admit it, very scared. He just laughed at me.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he chuckled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I couldn't stop myself from asking, even though I knew I wouldn't get a straight answer. Whatever he was thinking, it was heavily walled off from me.

"Like I'd tell you, maggot," he snorted, flipping upright. "If I were you, I'd see if you can't learn to use that Keyblade of Roxas's."

"I'm not a Keyblade wielder."

"Don't know until you try," he threw back at me, feigning cheerfulness.

"What are you hinting at, Xigbar?"

"You'll see soon enough." He summoned his darts back to him and teleported out of the room, laughing. I fell to the ground with a thud, tired and even more confused. Something weird was going on. I didn't want to stay to find out.

I limped back to my room and stayed there until Roxas was done with his mission. We'd been going to the clock tower every day since he'd broken his wrist, but that day I wasn't sure if he'd come. I shouldn't have doubted him, though. He showed up, looking the worse for wear, and wordlessly made a portal.

We got our ice creams and settled on the edge, but neither of us was hungry. Roxas broke the silence.

"I can't believe he's gone," he said faintly, staring out at nothing.

"It's awful," I agreed.

"Why did he have to go? Why did he have to die?" There was a bizarre tint of anger in his voice.

"Axel didn't abandon us, Roxas."

"He left, didn't he?"

"He didn't have a choice! You know there's no getting out of missions, everyone knows that."

"Everyone knows all kinds of stuff that I don't know," he grumbled under his breath.

"Roxas, what's really bothering you?" I asked, concerned.

"Do you even have to ask?" He almost yelled at me. "My best friend's dead! Something's wrong with me and no one – not even you! –will tell me what, but you all know. You all know more about me than I do!" He chucked his ice cream as far as he could, venting his frustration to the sky. I scooted back involuntarily. I had never seen or felt Roxas so angry before.

"No one even cares that he's gone," he said, quieting down.

"I care." I paused, to let him feel the weight of that sentence. " And I'm sorry that you feel like I'm hiding things from you. There are things I can't tell you, because it will get us both in trouble, and maybe even killed. Can you try to understand that, Roxas? Please?"

"I'm not even alive anyway. Nobodies aren't supposed to exist." Again, he was repeating words that weren't his own, testing them out, to see if they felt true.

"Roxas, look at me. Look at me!" I demanded when he didn't do what I asked. He slowly swiveled his head towards me, blue eyes somehow both sorrowful and defiant. "You are as real as I am. Even if everyone else tells you that you're not you have to remember that they're lying. You are alive. You're breathing and moving and thinking! And your heart is _beating_, Roxas."

"I don't have a heart," he said flatly. I growled slightly in frustration. I grabbed his hand and held it over his chest.

"That thumping thing is your heart, Roxas. It's the center of yourself, and it's also an organ the pumps blood through your body. Everyone, even Nobodies, have the organ. You have a center of yourself, too. That's what makes you you." I dropped his hand, taking an angry bite of my ice cream. He was quiet for awhile.

"Axel would have had something funny to say, to cheer us both up," he finally murmured. I nodded, suddenly feeling like I couldn't swallow.

"Axel would have scolded us for getting so upset in the first place," I choked out, smiling slightly.

"He shouldn't have died," Roxas said bitterly.

"He deserved better," I agreed. There was a pause. "Roxas…"

"Yeah?"

_We should get out of here. Leave this place, the Organization, everything. We might die if we don't._ I almost said it. I was this close to saying it. But at the final moment, I decided against it. "It's nothing, sorry."

"Why do you do that? Hide stuff, I mean?" he asked, a touch of anger in his voice.

"Just because you think something, doesn't mean you should say it. And sometimes, I want to say things, but I can't because it's not safe."

"Why does what you say put us in danger?"

"I can't tell you that," I said sadly, with a shake of my head.

"Why not? No one is up here with us! They'll never know what you say!" He was angry again.

"They'll find out, because you'll act differently."

"Why are you afraid of me?"

"I'm not afraid of you! I'm afraid for you! And I promised Axel-" I bit my tongue, shutting myself up, but not fast enough.

"You promised Axel what?" he hissed, dangerously quiet.

"That I would keep you safe… and alive… and uninformed."

He didn't say anything for a long, long time. My ice cream melted slowly, but I didn't move to lick it, just stared anywhere but at his stormy face. I could feel his sorrow and anger and hurt and betrayal roiling around inside him like a storm cloud. It was frightening.

Finally, he choked out one hoarse, false snort of a laugh. "Friendship, what a joke," he spat, standing up and making a portal. "Go home, Aurora."

"Roxas-"

"Just go already!"

I did as he asked. That night, I had the hardest time falling asleep. When I finally did, I didn't dream of Sora. My night, just like my day, was full of nightmares.

**Review Responses:**

**Outre: **Thank you! ^_^ I will do my best. It means a lot to me to know that someone wants me to continue!

**Caitlinkeitorin: **Thanks for reviewing every chapter. I hope this one has less annoying elements in it! ^_^ As for the MMMMMMmmmmmmmm! Part, I was trying to make him say "COLD!" but with his mouth full… I didn't exactly succeed, obviously. Thanks again!


	5. Believe

**A/N: Another chapter, finally! Sorry I took so long… My muse was not feeling very KH-ish. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter… it wasn't exactly what I planned, but it's always fun when things surprise you.**

**Oh, and I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but could you pretty please review? It encourages me to write more, write more often, and write better, so do it if you really want this to get better! Thanks! I promise I won't ask again.**

Chapter 5: Believe

I don't remember anything changing for awhile. Roxas wouldn't talk to me, or even look at me, and of course, Axel was dead. I was as alone as I had ever been, but I felt worse. If I had had a hollow inside of me before, now I had a canyon of loss and loneliness. I spent those days wandering like a ghost, so I remember very little of them.

Training had become more and more difficult, and bizarre. They mimicked missions, but refused to send me on any. At one point, they dumped me in a huge central room with ten Samurai Nobodies. Each one already had all four of its swords drawn and at the ready. Saix, who had dropped me off, ordered, "Eliminate them all," before vanishing in a flicker of black. I looked around, counting lesser Nobodies, weapons, the potions in my pocket. I was so dead. But I had no other choice. I singled out a random Samurai and leapt at its head with a bellow. I didn't know how sensitive they were to noise, but it was worth a shot.

It blocked me with two swords, and swiped the other two at my back. The swords were long enough, and I was close enough, that there was no longer any room for the Nobody to maneuver them. But it shoved me back into the waiting blades of the rest of them. I felt metal bite into my arms, legs, and sides. I dropped to the ground, holding my sword above my head. Scanning for a gap, I clumsily rolled out of the circle of Samurai. In a second, I surveyed the damage done to me. None of my wounds were deep, yet.

I attacked a Samurai from behind, slashing madly at its head and back. It stabbed backwards at me, and I was forced to jump away. Two more had come around, bunny-spiking me. I continued to back-pedal, trying to get in a hit or two. Samurai Nobodies are under Roxas's control for many reasons, but probably more so because they are the strongest of the lesser Nobodies, and Roxas is the strongest of the Nobodies in the Organization.

Things went this way for awhile. I was lucky that lesser Nobodies don't have much brain capacity. I was outnumbered and severely out classed in strength and skill, but I had my intellect. Somehow, I managed to destroy five of the stupid things. But I amassed a slew of cuts. My blood dribbled all over the floor, and I had to be careful not to slip in it. Somehow, this wasn't a problem for the Nobodies. When I defeated the fifth one, I drained a potion, and looked up.

There's always a catch with Organization XIII, and this was no exception. When I looked up, I was ringed by the remaining five Samurai, while two Sniper Nobodies were just appearing overhead. I groaned. Those were Xigbar's Nobodies. They fired two shots at me, and I jumped out of range, straight into the waiting blades of the Samurai. I dropped below four deadly thrusts, hearing sickening thuds as the snipers' projectiles half-way buried themselves in the floor near me. Panic began to well up in my chest, making it hard to breathe. I swept my blade out at the Samurai's legs, and they stabbed down at me, forcing me to stumble backwards.

I fell over, and two more shots hit the ground where I had just been. Scrambling back to my feet, I swung my blade out wildly. One attack, two, I hit them back, but three always made it through, pricking me in the arms, the legs, my gut. I fought to keep them away from my chest, my face, my throat, but one still got me on the collar bone, another skimmed the skin under my eye. The ring of lesser Nobodies tightened, making it hard to dodge the overhead shots from the Snipers. I went after a Samurai's head, but it caught my sword in all four of its own. A projectile slashed through the back of my arm, hurting like heck, but not preventing me from using it. I wished I knew magic as I strained to free my blade from the Samurai. Another slashed twice at me, forcing me to drop my sword all together and stumble out of range. I felt a prick in my back, and knew I had walked into another set of waiting blades. My sword was contemptuously chucked over their shoulders as the Samurai Nobodies continued to advance. I momentarily froze, too frightened to move. Then the flight part of my flight-or-fight responses took over, and I smashed into the nearest Samurai's semblance of a mind and crushed it. The lesser Nobody disappeared in sickly black smoke, and I dashed forward, vision momentarily blacked out.

I ran like hell hounds were chasing me, and they might as well have been. I shoved through one set of double doors, not slowing, my vision returning just in time. I could hear the Nobodies pounding after me, their weapons making faint clinking sounds. I nearly smashed into a wall as I rounded a corner, going too quickly to turn at the right angle. I heard two thuds as projectiles smashed into the wall I had just shoved off of. I ducked involuntarily as my mind shoved its way through the castle, searching for help. Normally, widening my range like this would have exhausted me, but my mad fear drove me to new heights of adrenalin-induced energy. As two more projectiles whizzed past my ears, I shoved my mind backwards, eliminating the two Snipers. This drove me to the ground, my world black and a splitting headache screaming through my cranium. I stumbled upright, still blind and aching, shoving myself forward as my vision returned in white, blurry stars. The Samurai swished their swords, hoping they were in range now. Help was not in the Castle. I sent out my mind again, like a burning torch, an arcing comet, a specific destination in sight.

_Roxas! Please! I need your help!_ I begged, mercilessly forcing him to see through my eyes. I looked over my shoulder, showing him the Nobodies chasing me, the trail of blood I hadn't known I had left behind me. Even as I cut off the connection to his sight, I saw him appear, Keyblades at the ready. I stopped, and turned around, my exhaustion catching up with me.

The Samurais stopped, sheathed their swords, and bowed low as Roxas fixed them in a cold stare. Without a word of order, he forced them to disappear. Without a word, he turned and faced me, putting his Keyblades away.

"Thank you," I said quietly. He nodded, eyebrows scrunched up in his own peculiar expression. Perhaps he wondered if he needed to apologize, but he didn't. He had come when I needed him, and that was enough. We both dug around in our pockets. I pulled out a potion and started to rip it open when Roxas said, "Here," and chucked an elixir at me. I threw it back.

"Thanks, but you keep it. Those things are expensive." I downed my potion, and it did what it needed to do. A small smile cracked Roxas's face, and he shook his head at me, but pocketed the elixir.

"Sorry about all of this," he said, still shaking his head. I shrugged.

"Don't worry about it. Were you in the middle of a mission?"

"Yeah. Wanna help me out?"

"I owe you, after that," I said, smiling too. He shrugged at me, and then created a portal.

"I think you'll like this world." He grinned. I walked through the portal and he followed, causing it to close behind him.

Everywhere, ocean stretched out around us, blending with the bright blue sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and the sunlight was the warm perfection of summer days. Little rocky outcroppings thrust up from the sea in various shapes and sizes. We were standing on the biggest one, close to the water line. There was an island covered in trees in the distance to our left, and a ship flying a pirate flag floated in the water to our right. The ship made me nervous, but the island called to me like a siren song. Roxas was right. I already loved it here.

"Here, you'll need this," Roxas said, startling me out of my reverie. He was trying to hand me Oathkeeper. I'd forgotten to bring my weapon. I looked from him to the Keyblade and back.

_If I were you, I'd see if you can't learn to use that Keyblade of Roxas's._ Xigbar's words echoed in my memory, sending a shiver down my spine. Roxas noticed, his expression shifting from open to worried.

"You ok, Aurora?" he asked, still holding out Oathkeeper. I had to take it, but I knew it wouldn't stay. Only one person was the Keyblade Master.

"I'm fine, just got a chill. Thanks, Roxas," I said, reaching out and taking the pro-offered Keyblade. He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. Oathkeeper stayed in my hand, and stayed. I swung it a few times, experimentally, and then gave Roxas a quizzical look. "I wonder why it's not returning to you…" I mused. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Huh? Why would it?"

"The Keyblade's known for being… possessive. It only lets one person use it – you." He shrugged at me, not as worried as I was.

"Well, maybe it just likes you or something."

"I doubt it. Promise me you won't tell anyone I can use it," I added, last minute. He looked me, hard, and then nodded once.

"Promise," he agreed. After a pause, he looked around. "Well, we'd better get started. First, you're going to learn to fly," he said, grinning at me. I smiled.

"Really?" I asked. He laughed.

"Yeah, really! All you have to do is… I don't know the word for it, but you have to _know_ you can fly, and then you can," he struggled to explain.

"The word is 'believe'," I said gently. Then I closed my eyes, trying to do what he said. I felt something bump into my back, and my eyes shot open. An angry tinkling of bells filled the air as a bright speck of light flew around me and into my face. There was a flying girl in the speck of light, and the bell sounds came from her. She finished her rant and stuck her tongue out at me before zooming off.

"That was weird," I said, watching her go.

"Could you understand her?" Roxas asked. I shook my head.

"Not a word." I tried to fly again, closing my eyes tight. For a few moments, nothing seemed to be happening.

"Aurora, you're doing it!" Roxas exalted. I opened my eyes and looked around. We were already a yard or more off of the ground and smiling like idiots. I let out a whoop, spinning around in mid-air.

"This world is awesome!" I said, and Roxas laughed.

"C'mon, we've got a mission to do!" We flew off, tag teaming to defeat heartless and collect hearts, which was Roxas's mission for the day. That was also why I had to use the Keyblade. I wouldn't have been helping Roxas if I'd lost him hearts.

The fighting was hard, but Oathkeeper seemed to give me extra strength. Flying around wasn't bad, either. It made fighting flying heartless a LOT more fair, fun even. It didn't take us long to fill Roxas's quota. As soon as we were done, Oathkeeper vanished in a flash of golden light, re-appearing in Roxas's left hand.

"How bizarre…" I observed, awed. I almost missed the powerful blade. I wasn't nearly as weak with it. Roxas looked from Oathkeeper to me and back, puzzled. But he shrugged it off and landed, making a portal for us to go home. I landed near-by.

"Thanks for the help," Roxas said as I walked through. When he emerged a second later, I shrugged and smiled.

"I'm pretty sure I should be thanking you. You did, after all, save my life today. And I couldn't have helped you if you hadn't loaned me Oathkeeper."

"What are friends for?" He replied. I laughed.

"No kidding. Let's go get some ice cream. I'm beat."

That day, we munched our ice cream and joked around, ignoring everything important and painful. It was good to get away. I smiled as the sun set, wishing I could believe that this would last.

**Review Replies:**

**Caitlinkeitorin: **Thanks again for consistently reviewing. I hope there are fewer mistakes this chapter! I can't believe I messed up the punctuation on those quotations. Thank you for catching that, I will work harder on watching for those.  
As far as the tense change, that is because Aurora is writing in the present about the past. She is still not her best when she wakes up in the morning, so she uses present tense. Normally, you're right, that would a terrible error, but I think it was ok the way I used it. I could be wrong though, it's all very confusing sometimes.  
I guess I should have her describe herself at some point. I'll try to work that in so that you don't have to wonder anymore. ^_^


	6. Dream

**A/N – Super long chapter this time. I hope you enjoy it! I worked really hard to make it make sense… You'll see why when you get there.**

Chapter 6: Dream

The creaking of my door swinging open startled me awake. It was the middle of the night, and I sat bolt upright in bed, unable to see anything. I quieted my breathing, listening to the quiet click of the door closing, and the gentle yet ringing thuds of someone walking up my carpeted metal stairs.

"Who's there?" I called out, frightened.

"It's me, Aurora," Roxas's voice thrummed softly through the darkness. I relaxed, letting out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"You scared me."

"Don't you have Dreamer's Wish with you?" he asked as he reached the top of the stairs.

"No."

"Well, that's kind of dumb, isn't it?" He settled down on the edge of my bed.

"Did you have another nightmare?" I asked him, letting his comment drop. My eyes had adjusted and I saw him nod once. We sat in silence for a little while as I scrambled to come up with something to say to make him feel better. He tucked his knees up against his chest, probably mulling the dream over in his mind. "Do you want to talk about it?" I finally ventured.

"I don't know what to talk about," Roxas said after a pause, his eyes locked on the floor, but not really seeing it. An idea slowly oozed its way into my head. I struggled to grasp it, solidify it. The silence stretched on. I grappled with my train of thought, and then finally with my vocabulary. I wasn't sure exactly how to pose this idea to Roxas, as it barely made sense to me.

"Could… could I read it for you?" I asked eventually. He swiveled his head towards me, brow wrinkled in confusion. The faint light made the surface of his face a creepy mask of shadows. I tried to explain better. "If you'll let me, I can go into your memory of your dream, and watch it again. Then, you won't have to explain, because I'll know what happened. Is that ok with you?" He thought about it, face twisting into an incredulous expression.

"Have you ever done this before?" he asked doubtfully.

"Not really…" I admitted. I didn't use my powers much. I thought they were invasive. Roxas stared me down. "The worst that can happen is that you'll have to re-live the memory again. I can enter your memory through your mind, but I can't do anything to your memory itself." Memory doesn't fall under the usual divisions of mind and heart. It sits a little in both. Thus, I could force someone's mind to call up any memory I wanted to see, but I could no more alter that memory than I could shape shift.

He thought it over, and then finally said, "Can't hurt to try." I nodded and closed my eyes.

Steadying myself, I focused on my connection with Roxas. As I had befriended him and Axel, I had noticed a constant connection growing between us. It was like a weird, golden thread, always pulled taught. Usually, I didn't let their thoughts flow down that thread to me, but now I needed to. I listened for it, and it sounded like a rushing whisper, full of Roxas's voice. I followed it into Roxas's mind.

I'd never really wandered around in Roxas's head before. The only time I had, I hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on. On the surface there was a black space, a sort of room. His current thoughts were scrolling across one wall in white text. On another wall, the one I had just gone through, a huge screen displayed what he was seeing. I could have watched the screen, or read his thoughts (which also would have been listening to them) but I chose to keep moving. Leaping up, I dived beneath the floor into his unconscious. That was like diving underwater, except I didn't have to worry about breathing. Everything here was floating in a watery blackness. Different feelings and emotions and other things were thrown about in piles, much like a teenager's messy room. Roxas'd know where anything was, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it. I continued to swim downward, trying not to disturb anything.

Roxas's memory was behind a huge, round stained glass window about half-way down that central chamber. The window was a picture of Sora and his friends, with Destiny Islands as the background. It was kind of ironic – Roxas memory door was the one thing he couldn't remember.

I tried to open the door, and instead fell through into another room, one that the laws of gravity seemed to apply in. It was dark, except for one central spotlight. In the spotlight, a huge tower of poster sized pictures stood stacked almost to the ceiling, if there was a ceiling. A ladder leaned precariously against them. Cautiously, I clambered up the ladder and began leafing through the photos. Each one represented a memory, and had a date printed on it. I was careful as I dug around for the nightmare memory. Too much movement would start shoving each memory in quick succession to Roxas's conscious. He'd be so confused. Plus, most of these were Sora's, not his. Eventually, I found a nightmare memory. It hurt to hold onto; the outside was laced with grey barbs of fear and helplessness and anger. I checked the date on it. It was the right dream, as far I could tell. Catching a good grip on the edges of the picture (or as good a grip as I could get, under the circumstances) I thrust my head into the memory.

My ears ringing, I opened my eyes, but everything was blurred together. I heard heavy thuds, like foot falls, but they seemed far away and strange. The blurry colors bounced up and down, and slowly solidified into shapes. I could hear metal jangling, and three sets of footsteps as we ran through a world I'd never seen before, pulsing and squishing around us like a giant organ. Along with the sounds reaching my ears, two boy's voices were in my head. They talked at the same time, almost like they couldn't hear each other, or something. I tried to look around, and realized that I couldn't move my head or eyes. Frightened, I tried to stop running, but I wasn't in control of the rest of me, either.

"_Why is Riku leading Pinocchio away?" _Sora thought.  
_"Who's Riku, and what's the deal with this puppet, anyway?" _Memory Roxas wondered at the same time. Their thoughts and feelings bled into me like ink, and I struggled to keep up with all the information pouring into me.

Sora pulled us to a stop, facing a jutting platform of organ. Riku had just appeared on top of it.

"Riku!" Sora shouted, surprised. "What's the matter with you?" he went on, gesturing wildly.  
_"What did he do that was so wrong?" _Memory Roxas asked.  
"What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you're doing?" Sora demanded to know, his face twisted in worry.  
"_What's the big deal? What is he doing that's got me – no, this kid – so uptight?"_ Memory Roxas shouted.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, $^&." A random burst of static eclipsed the last word, and I finally understood why Roxas never called Sora by his name. He didn't know it. "You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days," Riku continued. "Do you even want to save Kairi?" he spat coyly.  
_"Who's Kairi? What does all this mean?" _Memory Roxas demanded as Sora's hurricane of emotions ripped through him. He didn't even have words for what he felt like. I tried to explain, but it was just a memory; he couldn't hear me.

"I do," Sora replied to Riku as a child's scream cut through the air. We looked where the sound came from, and then took off running after it, Riku at our heels.  
_"No, turn around! Talk to him! I need to know what's going on!" _Memory Roxas struggled franticly, trying to get Sora's body to obey him.

We passed through a doorway into a large central chamber. A huge purple Heartless sat in the middle, with Pinocchio in its prison-like mouth.  
_"Easy! Let's knock this thing out!"_ Memory Roxas thought, trying to summon his Keyblades. Of course, nothing happened. Frustrated, he settled back to watch.

"You up for this?" Riku asked, turning towards us.  
_"Of course!"_

"No problem. Let's do it!" Sora said, finally drawing his Keyblade. The battle started off normally enough, if you count watching through the warrior's eyes but not being able to move as normal. Memory Roxas was having the hardest time of it. I had significantly less battle skill than this Sora, but Memory Roxas was definitely better than him. Every wrong move, every hit, Memory Roxas was practically screaming about seconds before, trying to move us the right way. But we couldn't move at all. We were paralyzed with our eyes open.

I felt a distinct jolt after awhile, and the dreamscape shifted. We were still paralyzed, seeing but unable to act. However, the Keyblade split in two, and we became a little taller. It took me a little bit to realize that Sora had become Roxas, but was still moving of his own accord. Memory Roxas and I were still trapped in someone else's body. How awful for Roxas that it was actually his own! Riku, who had been helping us fight, now bounced around, attacking us with the Heartless, shouting out things we couldn't actually hear and make sense of. We were losing the fight, as Riku and the Heartless swept in to strike us again and again and again. The room darkened, and we staggered around, nearly blind, constantly being attacked, and yet unable to defend ourselves. We were a mass of confusion, helplessness and panic, and then suddenly the dream was over, and I came flying out.

I landed on my back in Roxas's memory bank, the breath knocked out of me. Shaking, I stumbled to my feet and out the door. I needed the solace of my own mind, my own body, and I needed it NOW. I flailed around, swimming to Roxas's consciousness, and then running up and out to my own mind.

Sensation returned to me slowly. I was lying on my side. Everything was blurry. My limbs were curled up against me, tight, in a fetal position of sorts. I could kind of hear, but my ears felt almost disconnected. The sound was fuzzy and far away.

"Aurora, Aurora wake up!" Roxas said, shaking my shoulder. Images in the dark room slowly swam in and out of focus. "Aurora!" Roxas half begged, half demanded again. His voice seemed overly loud; it hurt my ears and echoed strangely. I sat up, holding my head and moaning.

"What the heck did you do?" he asked, his hand still on my shoulder. His train of thought cut through my own all of the sudden. _Areyouok?What'swrong?Whydidyoufalloverlikethat?Whatdidyoufind?_ he asked rapidly, not aware of what he was doing. I shook my head, shaking his thoughts out of my mind. My hearing became more normal, and my vision cleared as I re-opened my eyes.

"Aurora?" Roxas asked aloud, slightly more calm since I was sitting up and moving.

"I think I'm ok," I said slowly, blinking a bit to try to help clear my head. "Wow. Those things suck."

"So it worked?"

"Yeah, it worked." I replied emphatically. He chuckled a little.

"Here, let me go get you some water," he offered. He was back a few moments later with a small paper bathroom cup full of water. I drank it down. My mouth and throat were chalky, as if I had just been sleeping for several hours.

"Thanks. Why was I lying down?"

"You fell over and I couldn't wake you up," he explained worriedly.

"I guess when I entered your dream memory, I started dreaming myself. I probably fell asleep, in a weird sort of way, since you were asleep when you dreamed."

"So you're ok?"

"I'm fine, Roxas, really. I think that must be normal." _I really hope that's normal, _I thought to myself. A silence stretched between us as I tried to collect my thoughts.

"Do you have those a lot?" I finally asked. Roxas nodded, grimacing.

"Almost every night," he said. I winced.

"I'm sorry," I said. He shrugged, turning away, and then pulled his knees up against his chest again. "You can't get back to sleep afterwards, can you?"

"Not really," he said shortly. After an awkward pause he added, "So, now you know what's wrong with me."

"You say that like you're broken," I bitterly observed. He shook his head once or twice, not looking at me.

"What else could I be?" He fired back at me. "You and Axel don't have dreams like that. Why me? Why do I keep having to remind myself that I can't be sad Axel's gone, because Nobody's can't be sad at all? I'm not like the others."

"You're got it backwards," I said gently with a shake of my head. "They're the broken ones, because they can't feel. You're special, Roxas. These dreams are awful, but they mean something better. You're the only one of them that can ever be whole again." I met his eyes. "You're the least broken one of them all."

"What about Axel?" he asked uncertainly.

"I- I'm not sure about Axel. But he was our friend, right? That's got to count for something. And he wasn't as broken as the rest of them, either. He felt. He looked out for us as much as he could, so he had to have cared about us. As long as we remember him, he'll never be truly gone. He'll live on in our hearts, forever."

"But what happens when we disappear, too? Where will his memory go then?" Roxas's expression was similar to a wounded puppy's. I sighed.

"I don't know. We'll just have to try to live long enough that we can share his memory with other people, so that he can live on." He nodded, somehow satisfied by my answer. Or maybe he was promising to do just that.

"So, what about my dreams?" He asked after a pause.

"I'm not sure. I can't stop them. Unfortunately, you're just going to have to deal with them. But if you ever need to talk –"

"I know, I can come to you," He finished for me. I nodded, staring out the window at the empty streets.

We sat in a comfortable silence for awhile. Slowly, I saw Roxas unwind from his tense position out of the corner of my eye. His legs uncurled, feet brushing the floor, and his spine straightened. He stretched his arms behind him, leaning on his hands, finally relaxed. After awhile, he looked up at the ceiling and said, "Thanks, Aurora." He stood up, and I could see a faint smile on his face. "I'm gonna try to get some sleep now, and you should too. We've got a long day tomorrow."

I nodded. "Good night, Roxas."

"Night," he said, with a wave over his shoulder as he disappeared down my stairs. I sat staring at the spot where he vanished a long time. Without thinking about it, I drew my knees up to my chest and rested my head on them, just like Roxas had been doing earlier.

"What will become of us?" I whispered into the lightening darkness of my room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
I never did get back to sleep that night. Yawning, I stumbled into the Grey Area. Xigbar was waiting for me.

"Saddle up, it's time to blow this popsicle stand," he tossed out impatiently.

"Eeeeh, ready when you are," I yawned, rubbing the sleep out of one eye.

"What'd you do? Pull an all-nighter with tiger, there?" he asked, nodding at Roxas who was receiving his mission orders from Saix.

"Shut up," I snapped, glaring indignantly at him. "Let's just go get this over with already." He made a portal and waved me through.

"So, did you take the advice I gave you last time?" he drawled, tapping an Arrowgun against his shoulder. I shrugged at him, holding Dreamer's Wish loosely.

"I'm not a Keyblade wielder. If I was, I could summon my own blade by now," I remarked, shaking Dreamer's Wish towards his face.

"You'll have to do better than that. How have you been liking your training lately?" He goaded me, grinning.

I rolled my eyes at him, stifling another yawn. "What are you getting at, Xigbar?"

"It's not gonna be that easy. You're crazy if you think I'm gonna tell you just like that."

"Then train me, already."

He laughed. "Nah. This is a lot more fun. Hey, Aurora, what do you get when a person becomes a Heartless?" he asked, fiddling with his weapons.

"A Nobody, obviously." I watched him anxiously, slightly tightening my grip on my sword.

"Correctomundo. What's it take to make a greater Nobody, like me?" He fixed me in the beady stare of his single amber eye.

"A strong heart. Look, if we're not going to train can I just go back to my room, already?" I demanded with a snappy swing of my blade.

"Sit down and answer my questions," Xigbar snapped, firing off a dart. It hit me square in the shoulder, fortunately missing any bone. With a sharp hiss of pain, I sat down, holding my injury.

"Ask away," I hissed through clenched teeth.

"Good girl. Now, what makes a heart strong?"

"Heck if I know," I spat. He fired off another dart, which buried itself in my left thigh, making me yelp.

"You'll have to do better than that."

"Knowledge, power, discipline!" I yelled quickly.

"And what makes a Keyblade wielder?"

"A strong heart, one strong enough to draw the Keyblade to itself."

"Do you know why we need Roxas?" he asked, beginning to pace.

"Only the Keyblade can unlock hearts to join Kingdom Hearts. If you get lucky, all the hearts of the members of Organization XIII'll end up in there, and then you can all be whole once it's complete," I said rapidly, holding my shoulder and leg.

"Think on that," He said, pausing to bend over me before grabbing me by the forehead and shoving me backwards into a portal.

I tumbled head over heels onto my bedroom floor, and landed on my stomach, driving the two crystal darts deeper into my flesh. I bit my lip, but still couldn't hold in a howl of pain. Shaking, I sat up, tears springing to my eyes. I rolled over, sat up, grabbed the base of the crystal in my shoulder, pinched my eyes closed, and yanked it out. Blood spurted everywhere, and a scream ripped from my throat. I quickly stifled it, laying the dart down on my ruined floor. I grabbed the other crystal in my leg and repeated the process.

I was lucky, or smart. I had packed hi-potions in my pockets for today's training, and I groped around with one hand a bit before wriggling one out of my pocket and draining it in one gulp. A green glow surrounded me, and my wounds closed up, leaving me with only a dull, throbbing pain. I drank another hi-potion, just in case. I was about to stand up and start cleaning up my mess when Roxas pounded up my stairs, nearly tripping over me when he reached the top.

"Aurora! What…" Realization stole across his face as he looked from me to the bloody darts on the floor next to me. "Xigbar," he growled matter-of-factly, meeting my gaze. I nodded.

"Training didn't go so well today."

"I heard you yelling," he said quietly, a slight edge to his voice and expression.

"Sorry," I murmured, looking away.

"Don't be," he said with an emphatic shake of his head. "It's that jerk who should be sorry. When is this going to end for you, anyways?" He asked, pulling me to my feet. I was a little unsteady, but eventually my head stopped spinning. Roxas bent over and picked up the darts, walking over and throwing them out my window.

"Whenever they think I'm ready for the next phase of their plan for me," I replied as he walked back.

I started heading downstairs to get stuff to clean up the bloody mess, and Roxas followed me, making sure I didn't fall. "What phase is that?" he asked. I shrugged in response to his question.

"I wish I knew," I said with a sigh. We headed back upstairs with cleaning supplies and began working on my carpet. Blood aside, it was white with blue, indigo, and purple flecks.

"They haven't told you what you're training for?" He asked, surprised, pouring powder on the carpet.

I scrubbed at a stubborn spot. "Nope."

"How do they expect you to be any good at it if they won't tell you what you're working for?" he remarked, scrubbing at the bloody carpet as if it was its fault. I didn't answer, thinking that his question was rhetorical. We worked in silence until the carpet was clean.

"There. Good as new," Roxas said, straightening up. "Good thing my mission was easy today, or you might have had to do that all on your own." He looked at me with concern. "Are you feeling ok?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for your help. Let me change, and then we can go get some ice cream, alright?"

"Sounds good."

We headed to the clocktower, as was our habit now, Sea Salt Ice Cream in hand. My stomach fluttered at the height, but I knew I was safe as I settled down next to Roxas.

"Did you get any sleep after you went back to bed?" I asked him, licking my popsicle.

"Yep. You?" He took a bite. I shook my head.

"A little," I said, not looking at him. I took a bite, and it was a little too big. Unable to talk, I waited for the chunk of ice cream to melt in mild agony. Roxas started laughing at the expression on my face.

"And you're always telling me to slow down!" he chuckled. I glared at him, making weird noises in the back of my throat to indicate my displeasure. That only made him laugh harder. I couldn't help it, I started laughing too, and nearly choked on melting ice cream.

When I finally could swallow I said, "You're such a terrible person, laughing at me choking like that. I could have died." I fake glared at him, and he shrugged back.

"You're so whiny," he teased, flicking the back of my head. I shoved his shoulder, and he laughed. He made a swipe at stealing my ice cream, and I smacked his head.

"No way! Eat your own."

"Oww… that hurt!" He rubbed his head. I laughed.

"And yet I'm the whiny one." I rolled my eyes and took a smaller bite of my ice cream.

"Actually, you're both pretty pathetic," a voice cut in, familiar and clear. Roxas and I jerked our heads up in surprise, swiveling to see that annoying red-head. He was standing back from where we were sitting, ice cream in hand, just watching us.

"AXEL!" we both yelled, leaping to our feet. On pure impulse, I leapt up and hugged him. Everything had gone all blurry. It took me a few seconds to realize what I was doing, and I jumped back, wiping at my eyes. Roxas was standing next to us, shaking his head.

"Don't scare us like that! You could have at least let us know you were ok!" He said, sounding angry. I cleared away my tears in time to see Axel hide his shock.

"We thought you were dead," I whispered, looking down.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "You should have known better than that. I'm not going down that easily, got it memorized?" Axel said, grinning at us, but his eyes were sad. I choked out a laugh. Roxas crossed his arms.

"You still could have come back sooner!"

Axel put up his hands defensively. "Hey, I did the best I could, alright? Jeesh, what happened to 'Welcome back, Axel!' 'Good to see you, Axel!'?"he complained. I laughed, mostly over my crying fit.

"Welcome home!" I joked. Axel gestured to me.

"See? She's got the right idea. Unlike you, knucklehead," he said, thwacking Roxas on the back of the head.

Roxas laughed, saying, "Hey, cut it out!" Axel laughed back at him. By silent, mutual consensus we all settled on the edge of the clocktower again, one on either side of me. Axel was the only one with any ice cream left. I think I dropped mine over the edge when he showed up. Roxas had finished his before then.

Axel munched away. "So, what were you two up to while I was gone?" he asked. Roxas shrugged.

"Not much, just missions and training, the usual stuff."

"Xigbar give you any trouble?" Axel asked me, fixing me in his teal gaze. I shook my head.

"Not any more than could be expected," I said out loud. _I need to talk to you about that later,_ I said in his head. He nodded.

"Good." _When we're done here._

"How'd missions go, Roxas? You didn't screw anything up without me, did you?"

"C'mon, Axel. Give me some credit!"

"Just checking. You are kind of hopeless, after all."

"Oh, thanks!" Roxas snapped sarcastically. We all laughed, basking in the sun. It was perfect, like a dream.

And, like a dream, it wasn't meant to last.

**A/N – YAY! Axel's back! Happy day. I hope that all made sense. I think this is probably one of my best chapters so far, and I hope you all liked it. Now, I have a question for you all.**

**I recently took a Mary Sue litmus test for Aurora… and she's such a Mary Sue according to the two different tests I took it's sickening. T_T I feel particularly ashamed of myself. However, the whole point of writing this was to take some old crap stuff I made up a long time ago, and see if I could make it bearable to read. That includes my Mary-Sue-ish character. However, if no one is enjoying this, there's no point in me continuing. So, honestly, do you guys really want me to keep this going? Or should I kill it dead? I know I'm new here, and this story is new, so everyone has a month – one month – to chime in. I won't post another chapter during that time period, unless you guys ask for one. If I get no responses, I'm going to keep going, just fyi. Don't worry about hurting my feelings –I'm well aware that Mary-Sue's are cardinal sins of fanfiction. I can always work on something else. **

**Review Responses:**

**Caitlinkeitorin: **Thank you, as always, for consistently reviewing! I know you've helped me work on my writing for this a lot.  
I have a really hard time with that, so thank you for letting me know. I'm working on it!  
And I'm not sure if Aurora will ever get around to describing her appearance (especially if I kill this off), so I put a character profile on my profile page for you.


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